WBMT - Backlog!
I have discovered the silver bullet to 'backlog', it is very simple so read on,
?When is a backlog a problem?
It is of course only a problem when production is not as planned,?you have run out of money or are threatened with legal action. Those that have made investment decisions in the past have of course long gone, having been promoted for meeting budget (cut) demands and making the entity more profitable during their tenure.
I manged to grab some time with my son and we started talking 'backlog' and got onto the state of the NHS. The NHS began on 5th July 1948 and over the decades has become the envy of the healthcare world. Health Secretary Aneurin Bevan stated in 1952 that,
?“the collective principle asserts that […] no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means”.
Bevan’s NHS vision was high quality, free and sustainable healthcare to all who required it. However, advances in care and increases in population along with 'modern' disease have meant increases in running costs and of course the inevitable cost cutting strategies. My son pointed out that cutting cost reduces effective delivery and efficiency which in turn leads to sponsors criticising the service provision and looking for alternatives. Thereby entering a downward spiral of increasing patient backlog and (cynically) creating an ideal environment for selling to private enterprise. (I wonder who might gain from that, civilised society?)
Winding on a couple of weeks and I related the story to a couple of GP friends of mine who elaborated. The reason for the?Ambulances waiting in car parks is because A&E is full. A&E is full because all the hospital beds are full. The reason the hospital beds are full is there is lack of community care. The reason there is lack of community care is due to funding. All the pandemic has done is shone a very harsh light on what is to come if we continue to ask for something for nothing. I have rather simplified the above!
So what has teh NHS got to do with my line of business? I am constantly asked about backlog reduction strategies in relation to maintenance. I have written about the subject on numerous occasions in the past explaining about weak signals and silver bullets, risks and the consequences of short term gains.
The UK regulator has also carried out research with findings related to backlog and the use of CMMS systems, in particular KP3 heavily criticises leadership, understanding, systems, skills, communication and of course investment. There is a list of Key Program Findings for you at the end of this article.
Rather than going into a long diatribe explaining all the various findings, the relationships between actions, how probability works and the inevitable consequences of action or inaction I will let you do the research and maybe read a few of my previous articles. As in the NHS case, and in my experience dealing with hazardous industries in general, if you do not do the basic preventative and corrective activity the ultimate consequence is you will be unable to deal with the safety critical or emergency work.?However, I have noticed that no matter what business I am looking at there is one thing that in a crisis most organisations do (to my dismay I hasten to add),
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"There is one silver bullet of solving the back log problem. The method is called obfuscation"
Great word hey! I am truly sorry if you actually believed my claim at the start. It does not work long term, it never has and never will. All it does is get people that do not understand off your back for the short term but confuses and demoralises your staff and puts the production under increased stress. I will leave you with my challenge,
Do you perform a desktop statistical exercise and reprioritising backlog in order to reduce the critical 'work'.
Or
Recognise that you can't get something for nothing and start a program of doing.
This is the list of HSE KP's